2011 05-26 digtali surrey science of gamification-v03

The Science of Gamification
Michael Wu PhD
Principal Scientist of Analytics
Lithium Technologies

Digital Surrey
May 26th, 2011

twitter: mich8elwu
linkedin.com/in/MichaelWuPhD

agenda
Terminology & basic concepts
Fogg’s behavior model (FBM)
Motivation
Ability
Trigger

Design process and few case studies

twitter: mich8elwu

some gamification terminology
Gamification:
The use of game mechanics/dynamics to drive game-liked engagement and
actions in non-game environments (e.g. work, education, exercise, etc.)

twitter: mich8elwu

Game Mechanics Common examples:
Principles, rules, and/or Status: ranks + reputation
mechanisms that govern a simple Feedback: points
behavior through a system of Set completion: collection
rewards with predictable outcome. Customization: self expression
If …[reward]… then …[action]… Exchange: sharing social
with high probability cohesion + facilitation
Building blocks
Infinite Gamification.org compiled a list of
known game mechanics
People adapt game
mechanics become
ineffective
twitter: mich8elwu

Gaming Dynamic Common examples:
Temporal evolution and patterns of Progression vs. status: badge +
both the game and the players that achievement / rank + reputation /
make the game (or any gamified leveling up / unlocks + access
activity) more enjoyable. Reinforcement schedule vs. points:
Game play dynamics variable interval/ratio reinforcement
Player state dynamics: Flow serendipity
Created by combining + cascading Appointment + countdowns:
game mechanics confused with IRL happy hour FarmVille
game mechanics Communal discovery:
Depend on gaming personality IRL voting digg + Facebook likes
(Bartle): achiever, explorer,
socializer, killer

twitter: mich8elwu

Game Theory
Has nothing to do with
gamification!
An established branch of
mathematics that tries to describe
the decision process in any
strategic situations, including
games.

A BEAUTIFUL
MIND
twitter: mich8elwu

behavior model
Fogg Behavior Model (FBM):
3 Factors underlying human behavior.
Temporal convergence of 3 factors.

MotivationAction Ability Trigger

wants can told to

twitter: mich8elwu

behavior model
Fogg Behavior Model (FBM):
3 Factors underlying human behavior. Trigger
Temporal convergence of 3 factors.

activation

Motivation
threshold
Action

Ability
twitter: mich8elwu

what motivates people
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943)
Game mechanics / dynamics
being-needs
(meta-needs) status, achievements,
ranks, reputation, etc.
deficiency social cohesion, virality &
needs most communal/community
dynamics
security, money
(gambling)
food, water, etc

twitter: mich8elwu

from Maslow’s need to Pink’s drive
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943)
Dan Pink’s intrinsic Game mechanics / dynamics
being-needs motivators (2009)
(meta-needs)
autonomy ownership, blissful productivity,
Maslow’s meta-motivators: serendipity, etc.
Dan Pink’s intrinsic motivators
mastery points, progression, level up, set
completion, etc.

purpose epic meaning, quest, discovery,
justice, save the world peace, etc.

twitter: mich8elwu

John Watson & BF Skinner: Learning & Conditioning
Human behaviors are learned through conditioning
Radical: disregard innate needs, only use external conditions & reinforcement
The conditioned reinforcers (which are usually
some kind of points) are learned and they
become the motivator
However, points themselves are not inherently
rewarding

Proper use of points depends on the
reward schedule
When, how many, and at what rate the points
are given (or taken away)
Progression and level up dynamics

twitter: mich8elwu

John Watson & BF Skinner: Learning & Conditioning
Fixed-interval (FI) schedule
Drives activity near deadline Reward Schedules
count down & appointment dynamic

Fix-interval (FI) and fixed-ratio (FR)
Learning new behaviors (e.g. training)

Variable-interval (VI)
Reinforcing established behaviors

Variable-ratio (VR)
Maintaining a behavior Game addiction
Serendipity & surprise
Lottery mechanic + anticipatory motivators

twitter: mich8elwu

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
Flow: an optimal state of intrinsic
motivation
Forget about physical feelings (e.g. hunger,
sleep), passage of time, and their ego

Skill ~ Challenge Flow
Certainty vs. Uncertainty
People love the control state
b/c it gives them a sense of security & safety
People hate the boredom state
People like arousal
People dislike worry

twitter: mich8elwu

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
People acquire skills over
time move into the
relaxation / boredom state
We are motivated by challenges,
surprises, and varieties, to avoid
boredom
New challenge arousal, anxiety
IRL, matching challenge to people’s
skills exactly is hard
They are either too easy (boring) or
too hard (frustrating)
Good gamification must adapt &
evolve with the player
twitter: mich8elwu

ability: 2 perspectives
User perspective: ability (reality)
Task perspective: simplicity (perceptual)
2 ways to push a user beyond his activation
threshold

Motivation
activation threshold
Hard way: Increase his real ability by
motivating him to train & practice
Easier way: Increase the task’s
perceived simplicity (or user’s Ability
perceived ability)
twitter: mich8elwu

what is simplicity
Tasks that are truly simple must not require any resources
you don’t have

Simplicity is a measure of your access to the following 3
categories of resources at the time when you need to
perform the task
Effort resources: physical effort + mental effort.
Scarce resources: time, money, authority/permission, attention etc.
Adaptability resources: capacity to break norms, which may be personal
(routines), social, behavioral, cultural, etc.

twitter: mich8elwu

what is simplicity
Simplicity dependencies
Individual: different people have access to different resources
Time & context: resource can be lost and become in accessible or gain

Resource trade off
Time + money
Simplicity is a function of your scarcest resource at the time when you need to
perform the task

Motivation + Ability can also trade off
Usually happens at extreme the ends

twitter: mich8elwu

perceived simplicity
A task is perceived simple if you can complete it with fewer
resources than you expect
You expect the task to be harder

Some game mechanics/dynamics designed to simplify
Divide and conquer
Cascading information theory
Chaining reward schedules
Behavioral momentum (follow personal norm)

twitter: mich8elwu

what is a trigger and why is it needed
Something that prompts or tells the users to carry out the
target behavior now.
User must aware of the trigger.
Must understand what the trigger means.

Why a trigger is necessary
Unaware of his ability (e.g. unaware of options or simplicity of task)
Hesitant (e.g. question his motivation)
Distracted (e.g. engaged in another routine activity)

twitter: mich8elwu

trigger depends on behavioral trajectory
Has ability but not motivated
Spark
built-in as part of the motivation mechanism

Motivated, but lack ability (or perceived

Motivation
ability) activation
Facilitator threshold
simplifies task by highlighting its simplicity
often used with the progress bar dynamics to create
anticipation as user improve towards his goal

Has ability and motivated
Signal
should only serve as a reminder Ability

twitter: mich8elwu

trigger depends on gaming personality
Bartle type Characteristics Effective trigger
Killer (<1%) highly competitive challenge them
Socializer hate confrontation, followers, value show that their friends are
~80% relationship doing it
Achiever spark trigger associated
driven by status (i.e. special access, etc.)
~10% with an status increase
Explorer driven by discovery & uniqueness of their call upon their unique skill,
~10% contributions, hate spatial & temporal limits no time pressure

Trigger is all about timing!
Poorly timed trigger: spam mails + pop ups ads

twitter: mich8elwu

gamification: design that drives actions
What do game mechanics/dynamics do?
Positive feedbacks: progress, accumulation of point, badges, status,
customization, serendipity, social facilitation, etc.
Negative feedback: theoretically works, but not well in practice

Increase the player’s true ability through training and practice (often used with
motivation)
Increase his perceived ability by simplifying the actions

Place triggers in the behavioral trajectory of motivated players when they feel the
greatest excess in their ability

twitter: mich8elwu

gamification is an iterative design process
What happens when a desired behavior is not performed?
Easiest thing to check 1st: are they triggered?
Are they aware of the trigger? Do they understand what the trigger meant?

Do they have the ability (i.e. is the action simple enough)?
Does it require efforts, scarce resources, or does it require the user to break norms
and learn new routines?
Reduce the feature complexity so it requires less resources (divide + conquer).

Are they motivated?
By positive feedbacks from game mechanics / gaming dynamics?
i.e. accumulation of points, badges, status change, progress bar, leader board,
customization, serendipity, social facilitation, etc.

twitter: mich8elwu

beware of the moral hazard of game play
Recall: Skinnerian operant conditioning
Points can be learned and become the motivator instead of the desired behavior

Gamify flossing: reward with points + perks
What happens when the rewards are gone?
They lose all motivation to perform the desired task

twitter: mich8elwu

Gap gamify store check-in
Desire action: Motivation
FB Places check-in
Trigger: appointment dynamic – time’s up
Single appointment
No reward for repeating & Ability: not everyone uses
maintaining the action FB Places. If target
demographic use it, then
Moral hazard of OK. They can check-in

game play
People want the reward
(free jeans) much more
than they want to check-in

When 10,000th pair of jean is gone people stop checking in

twitter: mich8elwu

speed camera lottery
Motivation: win $
lottery
Ability: the player is
driving, and has the
ability to slow down
the car
Trigger: lottery sign
on camera fixture
Spark trigger

twitter: mich8elwu

gamification of work ≠ mixing games with work
Sales execs fail to assign leads regularly
Create an ipad+iphone golf game
for lead assignment.
Motivation: new, fun, sales people love golf
Ability: this actually reduces ability, more work, inefficient
Trigger: leads notification

No convergence of 3 factors bad idea!
People may use it for a while due to novelty, but it won’t last long

Don’t take it too literally, or you’re missing the whole point of
gamification
twitter: mich8elwu

gamification summary
It is all about driving the players above the activation
threshold by:
1. Motivating them by positive feedback
2. Increasing their ability (or perceived ability)
3. And then applying the proper trigger at the right time

The temporal convergence of motivation, ability and trigger is
why gamification is able to manipulate human behaviors.
Beware of the moral hazard of game play
Good games must adapt and evolve with their players to bring them into the state
of flow

twitter: mich8elwu

thank you

Q&A + discussion

Resources:
me: mich8elwu
blog: http://lithosphere.lithium.com/t5/a/bg-p/MikeW

twitter: mich8elwu

twitter: mich8elwu

2011 05-26 digtali surrey science of gamification-v03

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to 2011 05-26 digtali surrey science of gamification-v03

Similar to 2011 05-26 digtali surrey science of gamification-v03 (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

2011 05-26 digtali surrey science of gamification-v03